The Frost on a Rose
by Karatepenguin
Summary: The beast child stared emptily at the frost clinging to the rose laying before him in the snow. He just stared. R


Hello to all! I have been away for about a year, and I'm finally back with a new story! (cheers) This story is about the prince before he was the Beast, and hopefully gives some better insight into the Beast's childhood then that stupid Christmas sequel they made. (strangles it) Excuse me to all who like that movie. Enjoy!

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A honey blond curl was released from the pulling force of a delicate hand. It sprung upwards until gravity sent it back down, stretching till it could go no further, before bouncing up again and settled into place. The hand plucked another from its desired place and ran its thin fingers through the silky strands. A second, smaller hand entered the palace of the locks. Its more childish features ran its excited fingers through the hair also, but with a bit more force than necessary. 

"Ow!" His mother exclaimed, turning around in her chair to see her young boy sporting a sheepish grin.

"Sorry Mother, I was just trying to get your attention." His boyish face charmed the annoyance out of and she shook her head.

"What was it that you needed to pull my hair for?"

"Father says it's time for us to go to party." The boy had to turn away so his mother could not see the smirk creeping along his face.

She laughed and motioned for him to climb up on her knee, "Did he? I was unaware that he had changed his mind about letting you come tonight. Tell me, when did he say this?"

The small boy thought quickly, "Oh, it was when you were sleeping Mother! "

She laughed again and set the six-year-old down beside her, "Alright, we both know you father isn't going to change his mind. Now it's off to bed. Don't make me send Cogsworth after you!"

He scampered off without another word, but instead of going to bed, went in search of another method to get to the party. His parents had been raving about it for weeks and made him desperately want to go. He had already tried all of his tricks on his father, and now his mother had turned him down also. What else could he try?

He plopped himself disappointedly onto a window seat overlooking the main entry. He scanned the grounds carelessly, watching the light snowdrift downwards in the last rays of sunlight. He spotted their driver and carriage awaiting his parents outside the castle and a wide grin spread across his face. The servants walking about jumped back as he darted through the maze of their bodies and shook their heads or gave a faint smile as he reached the main doors. He snatched his coat and boots from their spot he had left them earlier that day after he had come back in from playing in the snow. He had come back in early because it was so cold. His mother said it was the coldest Christmas Eve in years, and he thought she was probably right.

He tugged open the door a little bit, just enough to let him slip through, before shutting it quickly so no one would notice. He scurried over to the old driver, already feeling the cold attack at his cheeks. The driver had worked for them as long as he could remember, and his father said that he was working there even when he was a small child. He had hair that blended in with the snow around him and on his head and a face that was made out of nothing but wrinkles. He looked up at the man, giving him his best nonchalant smile.

"Where are you going, Mr. Sani?"

The long creased smiles about his eyes gazed at him, "Well I'm taking His Majesty and Her Majesty to their Christmas party, your Majesty."

The prince nodded complacently, "I see. But did you forget that I'm coming too? Mother even said I could sit next to you while we road!"

The driver raised his eyebrow, "Your father told me you were staying home tonight."

"You dare disobey my mother and your queen!" His young features were cocked into a worried glare.

At that moment, his parents stepped out into the nightmarish cold, looking very elegant in their royal clothes. The driver turned back to retort, but the seven year old had disappeared. He struggled and thought nothing more of it. A minute late, the carriage pulled away, with the young Prince hinged on the back. Delighted that his scheme was working, he barely noticed the numbness of his toes within his thin boots. He had always wanted to go everywhere his parents went and could never handle being turned down.

The carriage left the grounds of the castle, and the mumbling of his mother's complaints of the cold reached his ears. His father comforted her and the driver muttered to the horses to take it slow on the ice.

The boy tried to get a better view of ahead of the ice when he found he couldn't feel his legs anymore. He clung to the carriage with both hands and with great difficulty tried to shake one leg out without making the carriage move. His leg refused to feel anything. The young prince huffed and strategically gripped the side of the carriage with his left hand while the other hand attempted to slap awake an adamant leg. He heard the driver tell the horses to avoid the weak part in the ice while he nudged them right. This jerk destroyed the prince's balance. He tried desperately to grab hold of the carriage, but ended up rattling the carriage, causing his mother to squeal before he toppled to the left onto the thin ice with a hard crash and a holler. His father called out his name in his regal voice from the carriage. He heard a crack ring in the darkness. The young boy sat dumbly as the crack from underneath him traveled and spread to the carriage and beyond. Before he could wrap this around his mind, the dark ice underneath him crumbled and he plunged into the midnight artic water.

The shock of the temperature seemed to freeze him in place for a moment as he drifted downwards before the wide-eyed struggle for air began. He twisted and turned, feeling for air where there was none to be found. He tried to open his eyes, but there was nothing to see. He reached farther above him, but couldn't tell if he was going up or down. He felt weak from trying to fight off the impulse to breathe, breathe anything. He looked around furtively, ready to give up, when suddenly his legs were yanked out of the water and his lungs were free.

He hacked and coughed, faintly noticing warm blankets put about his shoulders. His eyes cleared, and he saw the giant sized whole in lake. Around it were large chunks of mini icebergs, hitting the sides of the still unbroken ice and servants whom were jumping in to rescue the rest of the royal family. He bolted up; ready to dive back in, when large arms clamped down on him and held him in place. He watched for a long while, screaming and crying in childish hysteria. After several attempts, one servant managed to snag the old driver and bring him back to land. After his save, the search was slowly ended, and the servants moseyed on inside. The prince remained where he was, staring at the hole as if he could make his parents leap out of the water. Hot tears warmed his frozen face, as if trying to console him. Like he cared about warmth.

The large arms that held him strong quietly asked in a British accent, "Well, what do we do?"

A mournful French voice answered, " Oh, let him be Cogsworth. It will hard enough already without forcing him away."

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The golden raindrop hair frenzied about the prince's head as he shouted orders at his servants. After that night, the prince, the driver, and the servants who attempted rescue all came down with pneumonia. Though the prince recovered soon enough, the old driver got worse and died soon after. The young prince thought he deserved it. He disposed the driver for getting a few more days of life than his parents had. Of course, whom he truly despised was himself, and spent entire weeks loathing himself in a deadly depression. Determined to cheer up their only remaining royal, the servants granted him everything he ever desired. The prince began to use this to his advantage, and always went on wild rants if they did not get what he wanted immediately. This power taught their prince to be rude, selfish, and unkind. The power changed him. 

The servants rushed about the castle, doing their prince's biddings while he hollered at them to do more and go faster. With this familiar sense of frenzy around him, the prince smiled wickedly and strutted about his castle at a slow pace. He noticed a servant stopped momentarily ahead of him and so purposely bumped into him. When the servant looked back, the prince barked and threatened him with a whipping. The teenage boy bolted around the corner before he could finish his sentence. The eleven year old chuckled.

A gentle tap on his shoulder sent him wheeling about in a rage to face a smiling Lumiere.

"Excusez-moi master, but a madam is at the door. She wants to speak with you."

The young boy gave a viperous glare, "Well, make her leave!"

The thin man raised his hand so to not take the blame, "Desolé, but I'm afraid she insists."

He growled angrily at him before stomping towards the main doors. He couldn't imagine what kind of imbecile would dare interrupt him, especially when he was ordering his new Christmas toys to be set up!

Dramatically throwing open the gigantic doors, he saw a crouched, disgustingly old woman. Her eyes were large and bulgy; she dressed in dark, patchy rags that matched her broken nose. Her raggedy mouth creaked open to a smile at the sight of him.

"Sir," Her voice was raspy and harsh, "I have no place to stay and I have no money to save me from the cold. Could you, possibly spare a room for the night?"

She felt beneath her cloak, and with a creaky hand pulled out a beautiful crimson rose that was in full bloom, even though it was in the dead of winter, "This is all I have. Will you, accept it as payment?"

The prince snorted, "Woman, what kind of fool do you take me for? Do you know who you aretalking to!"

She just smiled, revealing yellow crooked teeth.

He sneered back at her, repulsed, "Leave my castle at once."

She looked up at him with her bulgy, soulful eyes, "Do not be deceived by appearances, young prince. Beauty if found within."

He rolled his eyes, "I said, Get. Out."

The old women looked down in the snow and began to, well, melt. The prince blinked, and tried to step back into his castle. The door behind him slammed shut the instant he turned around. He looked back at her, wide eyed.

Her body had dissolved it seemed, and in its place was the most beautiful women he'd ever seen in his life. She was much taller than he and thin, the beautiful kind of thin. Her hair was a golden he'd never thought possible and she had eyes like… much like the old woman. But whereas the eyes seemed grotesque on the hag, they seemed a perfect fit on this mystical face before him.

"Madam! Forgive me! " The prince suddenly stuttered, "I did not see what you were, please, forgive m-"

The enchantress interrupted him with a mystical, authoritative voice, "Do not lie to me prince. I have already seen what lies in you heart. I see you care for no one but yourself. Have you even one drop of love in your heart?"

He chose not to answer.

"I transform you into a horrible beast. Now, all shall see the ugliness of y our heart for your outside will finally match your inside, dear prince. " She smirked. "Your entire household will be cursed as well, for your upbringing was bestowed upon them."

She raised her hands to the moonlight, and a thin white wand magically appeared. The prince fell to his knees.

"No! I beg you!"

But they both knew he was begging only for himself. He did not have a care in the world what happened to the others. With a flick of her wand, he felt his body transform. He cried out in horror as he watched his slim fingers mutated into large bulky claws with horribly thick brown hair. His entire body had this awful hair. He felt his pants and sleeves burst as his limbs grew to an enormous size. Inside his mouth fangs grew larger than a sharks. It was all he could do to keep staring at the snow as his vision turned to all hues of gray.

"This rose you so snippily cast away I give you, but no longer as a gift. It shall bloom until your twenty-first birthday. If you can learn to love another, and earn her love for you before the rose is finally wilted and the last petal falls, you shall be released of the spell." She dropped the rose onto the crystal snow before his hunched figure.

"If not, you shall remain as you are forever." With that, she dissipated; leaving only sparkles of magic as a clue she had been there at all.

The beast child stared emptily at the frost clinging on the rose laying before him in the snow. He just stared.

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Well, I hope you liked it! Please review and tell me anything, what you liked about it, what you didn't, what you ate for breakfast… (And one of the other two also, please). Oh, and also if you HAVEN'T read TrudiRose's work, YOU NEED TO! She's amazing! I mean, there are not many people who can change a true blue Beast lover into actually becoming fond of Gaston! Please, read it. KP 


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